i always dig around in the recycling bin to find good seed starter pots. in the past i’ve used plastic bottles, plastic fruit and vegetable containers, etc. but i never thought of constructing my own pots out of newspaper! i stumbled upon this tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW4t_6dTAvA
i like that she mentions you should compost the newspaper after transplanting, rather than trying to plant it as-is, because i’ve had bad luck with seed starter pots that are supposed to degrade in the soil but they don’t. 
another thing i love about these pots is that you can write on them! 
i also realized my soygurt cups are the perfect size for seed starting.here’s another tutorial that i intend to try, using toilet paper rolls. egg cartons work too (though they’re quite small), and some people even use eggshells.
today i found this cute coffee mug at the thrift store...it’s so appropriate, since i plant in teapots, i should drink out of a planter:
Thank you! I think I'll use this to transplant my tomato starts. This also makes for a great article for my little gardening column.
ReplyDeletenice! i'm glad you can use it. i did some more experimenting with the technique last night and made one out of a thick paper sack--it was harder to fold but it's much sturdier--and i made another out of used tin foil. the foil was easy to fold and kept its shape well, but obviously it's not compostable. the tp roll method is great. i never think of these things during the daytime so i was out in the back yard last night with a flashlight, clattering around in the recycling bin like a goddamn raccoon. at some point *everything* starts to look like a potential seed starter pot.
ReplyDeleteHey, I was wondering if I could use a photograph of your teapots as container for an article I'm writing on creative containers for container gardening? I wouldn't be able to pay you anything. But of course, you would get the credit for the photo. If that's cool, could you email me a jpeg image with your name for photo credit? Thank you!
ReplyDeletejessicaloomis@gmail.com
The tp starter is brilliant! I don't have a garden at the moment but I'll pass it along to my kids.
ReplyDeleteI have a small set of flowerpot mugs - had to design a flower logo for a garden show, and they were so cute I bought a bunch.